Relay



Nov.25, 1941. w. B. ELLwooD 2,264,022 RELAY Filed Junel 27, 1940 /NVE/vrof? W. B. ELL WOOD By A 7' TURA/EV Patented Nov. 25, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,264,022 RELAY walter Ellwood, New York, N. Y., mmm to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 27, 1940, Serial No. 342,627

(Cl. 20D-93) claims.

This invention relates to switches and particularly to electromagnetically operated switches.

The object of the invention is to provide a relay unit contact device which is economical, reliable and easily replaceable.

A feature of the invention is a contact arrangement for polarized operation consisting essentially of contacts of magnetic material sealed in a vessel either evacuated or filled with an inert gas, which may be operated by an external magnetic force whereby costly contact metals are eliminated. To secure polarized operation, permanent magnets are sealed within this vessel and form part of both the magnetic circuit of the relay and the electrical circuit to be operated thereby. l

According to another feature of the invention two permanent magnets oppositely disposed and placed substantially parallel to each other are sealed into one end of the said vessel and a flexible tongue-of magnetic material is sealed into the other end thereof and so disposed that its end may travel between and make contact with one end of each of the said permanent magnets.

According to another feature, the moving contact may be a composite structure being formed partly of spring steel to lend ilexibility and partly of a magnetic alloy having extremely low retentivity to facilitate free movement from one permanent magnet to another. p

A further feature of the invention resides in the stiffness of the mounting of the ilexible contact member. By making this quite flexible a polarized' relay may be produced which will continuously maintain either one path or the other closed. By making this exible contact member comparatively stii a polarized relay may be produced which will maintain either path closed only when energized, that is, a so-called center adjusted relay may be produced.

By making the middle member stii and the magnet supports flexible a continuity polar transfer may be produced. That is both magnets will make contact with the middle and one or the other will break contact upon energizing the middle tongue with a coil depending upon the direction of the current.

This device is of the general type disclosed in Patent 2,187,115 to Ellwood and Holden, granted January 16, 1940. l

The drawing consists of a single sheet show- ,ing a relay contact structure in cross-section.

The device consists of a glass envelope l in which are sealed two contact members 2 and 8 at one end and a third contact member 4 atthe opposite end. A coil I external to the envelope causes the relay action inside the envelope. To the conducting members 2 and 3 inside the envelope are attached two small permanent magnets 6 and 1, respectively. 'I'hese may be attached in any well-known manner such, for instance, as by welding. These two permanent magnets are poled in opposite directions as indicated by the figures N and S, representing north and south.

To the lead-in conductor 4 is attached a resilient member of magnetic material 8 and another member of magnetic material 9 which may not be of the same resiliency as the member 8. If the member 8 is suiltlcientlyA stiff, the end oi the member 8 may be held between the ends of the members 6 and 1 without making contact with either when the coil 5 is not energized. Thereafter, the member 9 will move into contact with either the member I or the member 1 in accordance with the direction in which the coil 5 is energized.

If the resilient member 8 is less stiff then the member 9 may remain in contact with either the member 6 or the member I to which it was last attracted and will only move out of that position when the coil 5 is energized in such a direction to move the member 9 to the alternate contact.

It is not necessary that the two members 8 and 9 be used but the member 8 alone may be used and made long enough to substitte for the combined structure of members 8 and 8 together.

By making the single member comprising the members 8 and 9 stii and the mountings 2 and 3 within the envelope I comparatively flexible a continuity polar transfer contact device may be produced. With such construction both contacts will make contact with the middle one during periods when the coil is not energized and one or the other will break contact upon energizing the coil in accordance with the direction of energization.

In order to render this unit as small as ypossible and to make it capable of being inserted into a coil from either end, metal tabulation is used. Thus the contact member 4 is a metal tube sealed into the envelope I and it may be used to exhaust the envelope and then to iill the envelope with an inert gas before being sealed on. No claim is made tov this metal tubulation since the expedient is well known.

what is claimed is: f 1..A magnetically operated switch structure comprising two magnetic elements each terminating in a .permanent magnet, the two said permanent magnets being oppositely poled, and a iiexible magnetic element movable between the ends of said permanent magnets, said magnetic elements forming parts of both the magnetic .circuit and the electrical circuit of said struc-` ture and 'being mounted within a vessel sealed against oxidizing or corrosive iniluences, the said elements being subject to external magnetic influences.

2. A magnetically operated switch structure comprising two magnetic elements each termif nating in a 'permanent magnet, the two said permanent magnets being oppositely poled, and a flexible magnetic element movable between the ends of said permanent magnets, said magnetic elements forming parts of both the magnetic circuit and the electrical circuit of said structure an'd being mounted within a vessel sealed against oxidizing or corrosive influences, the said elements being subject to external magnetic iniluences, said flexible magnetic element having sufiicient stiffness to maintain it out of contact with vthe end of either of said permanent magnets sealed against oxidizing or corrosive innuences.'

thesaid elements being subject to external magnetic iniiuences, said iiexible magnetic element having suiiicient flexibility and suiilcient retentivity to hold it in contact with that permanent` magnet to which it was last'moved after such external magnetic'inuence has ceased.

4. A magnetically operated switch structure comprising two flexible magnetic elements each terminating in a permanent magnet, the two said permanent magnets being oppositely poled,v

and a magnetic element mounted with its end placed between the ends of said permanent mag. nets, said magnetic elements forming parts of both the magnetic circuit and the electrical circuit of said structure and being mounted within a vessel sealed against oxidizing or corrosive intluences, the said elements being subject to external magnetic inuences, the said elements having suflicient flexibility and retentivity to hold all three elements in electrical contact when free of external magnetic iniiuence.

5. A magnetically operated switch structure comprising magnetic elements forming parts oi both the magnetic circuit and the electrical circuit thereof, said elements being mounted within a sealed tubular vessel, permanent magnets forming part of certain of said elements, all saicl'elements being mounted on lines parallel in the axis of said tubular vessel and said vessel being adapted to be placed in an unoriented posi-v tion in a magnetic circuit whose ileld extends WALTER n. mwoon. 

